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Defects and Impurities in Mercuric Iodide Processing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

J. M. Van Scyoc ,
R. B. James ,
T. E. Schlesinger  and
T. S. Gilbert
J. M. Van Scyoc
Affiliation:
Advanced Materials Research Department, Sandia National Laboratories, MS 9162, P.O. Box 969, Livermore, CA 94551
R. B. James
Affiliation:
Advanced Materials Research Department, Sandia National Laboratories, MS 9162, P.O. Box 969, Livermore, CA 94551
T. E. Schlesinger
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
T. S. Gilbert
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
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Abstract

In the fabrication of mercuric iodide (HgI2) room temperature radiation detectors, as in any semiconductor process, the quality of the final device is very sensitive to the impurities and defects present. Each process step can change the effects of existing defects, reduce the number of defects, or introduce new defects. In HgI2 detectors these defects act as trapping and recombination centers, thereby degrading immediate performance and leading to unstable devices. In this work we characterized some of the defects believed to strongly affect detector operation. Specifically, we studied impurities that are known to be present in typical HgI2 materials. Leakage current measurements were used to study the introduction and characteristics of these impurities, as such experiments reveal the mobile nature of these defects. In particular, we found that copper, which acts as a hole trap, introduces a positively charged center that diffuses and drifts readily in typical device environments. These measurements suggest that Cu, and related impurities like silver, may be one of the leading causes of HgI2 detector failures.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 378: Symposium B – Defect and Impurity-Engineered Semiconductors and Devices , 1995 , 795
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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